Energetic demand and physical conditioning of table tennis players. A study review

Table tennis is a racket sport characterised by an intermittent movement profile, including short rallies interspersed with short breaks. In contrast to other racket sports, information is lacking regarding the: (i) physiological responses during table tennis matches and training; and (ii) practical recommendations for enhancing aerobic and anaerobic performance in table tennis by improving cardio-metabolic and neuro-muscular fitness, anthropometry and nutritional strategies. Therefore, this review article attempts to narratively provide an overview of the physiology of table tennis by describing the metabolic mechanisms underlying match play and outlining a framework for practical recommendations for improving cardio-metabolic and neuro-muscular fitness, anthropometry as well as nutritional strategies. A second aim was to stimulate future research on table tennis and to point out study limitations in this context. In general, the most important finding is that the rally duration is short at around 3.5s, with a longer rest time of around 8–20s, resulting in an effort-rest ratio ranging from 0.15 to 0.22 in official matches and energetic demands during match relatively low. Future studies should focus on the relationship between energetic demand and table tennis performance with a view to predicting performance in table tennis using physiological parameters.     

How Dutch employees experience freedom of learning for work

This article focuses on the perceived freedom of Dutch employees to embark on workplace learning in terms of whether they feel it is “voluntary” or “compulsory”. The paper is based on the findings of a large international explorative survey carried out by the Workplace Learning (WPL) Research Network (RN2) of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Lifelong Learning (LLL) Research Hub. The comparative study focused on employees’ quest for “freedom of learning for work”. This paper reports on the Dutch part of the research, the quantitative results of which seem to indicate that the freedom of learning for work is not as important to Dutch employees as might be expected. In a second phase, to investigate employees’ experiences of work-related learning in more depth, the Dutch researchers added a follow-up qualitative study, involving one-on-one interviews. In order to triangulate the results of the quantitative and qualitative research phases, the authors then added a mixed-methods sequential explanatory analysis. They assessed the quality of the collected data in both distinct phases by identifying converging results, which are useful for refining our understanding of learning for work. The paper draws both on rich insights into workplace learning based on this research as well as on theoretical literature which refers to concepts like motivation, subjectivity, work identity and agency in connection with the quest for freedom of learning.     

Coercive and supportive teacher behaviour: Within- and across-lesson associations with the classroom social climate

The present study investigated whether the classroom social climate varies between lessons. Specifically, the within- and across-lesson associations of coercive and supportive teacher behaviour incidents with the classroom social climate were studied. Participants in the study were 48 Dutch secondary school teachers and their classes, that is, 1208 students. Multilevel process analyses showed that supportive behaviour incidents correlated with a positive social climate during the current lesson and the lesson a week later in terms of teacher interpersonal proximity. Supportive behaviour incidents did not, however, correlate with social climate in terms of teacher interpersonal influence. Coercive behaviour incidents correlated with disrupted teacher proximity during the current lesson and the lesson a week later, but did not virtually correlate to increased levels of a teacher’s influence in the classroom.     

The Socratic Dialogue and teacher education

This article argues that the Socratic Dialogue in the Nelson and Heckmann tradition will prove a considerable contribution in training teachers. A review of the literature and empirical research supports the claim that the Socratic Dialogue promotes student teachers' interpersonal sensitivity while stimulating conceptual understanding. The article provides a new definition of the Socratic Dialogue and introduces the idea of common concept formation. A concrete Socratic Dialogue in the context of teacher education is discussed by way of illustration. Finally we suggest a manner of integrating Socratic Dialogue in teacher education and propose a line of further research.     

How to persuade honors students to go the extra mile: creating a challenging learning environment

Although universities aim to challenge high-ability students to develop their talents to the full, the question of how to create such challenges remains unanswered. In this study, we examined six different honors courses to discover which factors in the learning environment specifically designed for high-ability students challenged these students and determined how such challenges were established. Perceived challenges (factors and intensity) in the different courses were identified from focus group interviews with students. The interviews were guided by a storyline method which retrospectively discussed students’ experiences of course activities. In addition, course materials and audio-recorded classes were analyzed to describe how challenge was established. Results revealed three challenge factors: autonomy, complexity, and teacher expectations, similar to the ones found in a previous, single-case study. Results showed that the greatest challenge was experienced when the three factors were simultaneously experienced in the learning environment. These three challenge factors were manifested in various and sometimes very subtle ways through course design (e.g. open structure of assignments) and class interactions (e.g. particular ways of questioning).     

Mapping control and affiliation in teacher–student interaction with State Space Grids

This paper explores how State Space Grids (SSG), a dynamic systems research method, can be used to map teacher–student interactions from moment-to-moment and thereby to incorporate temporal aspects of interaction. Interactions in two secondary school classrooms are described in terms of level of interpersonal control and affiliation, and of variability and recurrent stable states (called “attractors”) of teacher–student interaction. Undesirable interactions appeared to feature weaker attractors and higher variability than more desirable interactions. SSGs appeared a promising way to study temporal aspects of classroom interaction, offering variability and attractors as indicators for the quality of classroom interaction.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Student teachers’ discipline strategies: relations with self-images,anticipated student responses and control orientation

Teacher discipline strategies are well documented when it comes to its effects on students and the working climate in the classroom. Although it is commonly acknowledged that for student teachers classroom management is a major concern, student teachers’ use of discipline strategies is largely unknown. In this paper, we examine student teachers’ beliefs in relation to their discipline strategies. Three clusters of discipline strategies are distinguished: sensitive, directive and aggressive discipline strategies. Beliefs that were taken into account are self-images on control and affiliation, control orientation and anticipated student responses on control and affiliation. All participants were student teachers of a one-year teacher education programme for secondary education in the Netherlands. Student questionnaires were used to measure discipline strategies (n?=?2506). Student teachers’ (n?=?104) self-images, control orientation and anticipated student responses were measured with student teacher questionnaires. Results of the multiple regression analyses showed that student teachers’ sensitive and directive discipline strategies are explained best by self-images on control; aggressive discipline strategies are explained best by self-images on affiliation and by control orientation. Apart from the possible academic interest in these particular findings, results are believed to be useful in a practical sense, in particular for teacher education programmes.